Abstract

Autistic people show an increased risk of experiencing potentially traumatic events, particularly social victimization. However, the co-occurrence of autism and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was hardly studied. This talk will describe a 5-year study, looking into this co-occurrence, including (1) an examination of the association between autistic traits, potentially traumatic triggers, and post traumatic stress symptoms in neurotypical adults; (2) an examination of the nature of potentially traumatic events and their association with post traumatic symptoms in autistic (vs. neurotypical) adults; and (3) and an examination of shared underlying mechanisms that may play a role in autism-PTSD co-occurrence. The study’s results highlight the need to embrace a broader perspective when examining traumatization in autism, and the importance of paying clinical attention to PTSD when supporting autistic individuals.